Sunday, 27 April 2014

Back to demos.....potentially

As a lot of you would know, I have had a very successful run of demonstration games, winning most of the top awards but have stepped back for the last couple of years, to concentrate on the day job, family and commissions. I really enjoyed helping out last year with Neil Tew's Salute Winner ( I provided most of his Armour) and too be honest missed the "buzz" of creating something special myself.

Anyway, after attending Salute this year, and while being impressed by the the overall increase in quality, didn't really find much "wow" factor I'm afraid ( caveat: for the areas I'm interested in!). I was inspired by the work put in by the Jersey Privateers in their 15mm game. The terrain was simply stunning, not entirely sure if their efforts were rewarded, 15 & 20mm not historically finishing high the the Salute judging tables ( and notice not an MDF building in site!).

So where am I going......whilst order books are still healthy, and my focus is always on showcase quality commissions, I feel I'm in a position to consider reopening the demo "box". After having a chat with the stalwarts at the "Escape Committee" club who help with the demos on the day, at this stage it looks like a real possibility.

In tandem my interests have drifted away from WW2 and into modern, both AIW (Yom Kippur), and after being absorbed by the book "Thunder Run", OIF . I have found the AIW has morphed into 15mm for gaming and 20mm for detail/ enjoyment ( if that makes sense!), so that leaves me with the Americans in Iraq....

Current Thoughts
So what am I thinking..... I have an interest in both the 3rd ID and the Marine actions in OIF (who doesn't love those Amtraks!). As a stickler for detail I need to separate these two subjects into discrete games, initial focus will be the I-64 and Thunder Run, and if successful then the Marines. As as most of you will know, Thunder Run means Abrams and Baghdad Motorway, hmmmm not the most scintillating terrain I hear you say.....and in 20mm......

As with most of us "creative" chaps and chappesses we always enjoy a challenge, have I meet my match? well maybe.....I have some preliminary ideas which I will keep under wraps for now, but will start posting here as soon as things get going.

As you can see I have some reading to do in order to formulate specific scenarios, and in concert am collecting the forces needed, so the initial posts will be ideas and plans....

What about Commissions???
No Change!!! As may be apparent I have reduced my web presence significantly over the last year, I can't cater for generic multi media requests for tutorials, 1-2-3 paint recipes and youtube videos as it takes time away for doing what I enjoy - creating mini masterpieces !! (and to be honest there are more gifted chaps out there than me to support these areas). That being said, I guess I'm more "old school" and am more than happy to exchange individual emails (and do so frequently), sprinkle some eye candy over the odd forum and hopefully update this blog a bit more regularily.

I have some wonderful "regulars" without whose patronage I wouldn't be able to fund these artistic digressions, so they/you remain my priority, occasionally I take in new stuff that peaks my interest ( you know who you are!), and occasionally I have commissions that slip so I will still attempt to juggle all these!

My one constant is that everything gets photographed and the gallery resides in flickr, so that's always your best place for getting the latest views of my work.

2 comments:

I think it would be great to see more modern projects from you.If you're looking at the later deployments of the 3rd ID, the I strongly suggest the Vepa series; really lovely figures and well worth the cost. I find your work very inspirational, and look forward to what comes next.p.s. sorry to comment on an older post: I missed it earlier :D